


piece by piece;

by posiereligion



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, posie - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 05:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17842940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posiereligion/pseuds/posiereligion
Summary: Josie can't say “I love you” at once, so she does it piece by piece.





	piece by piece;

Penelope thinks that she confesses her love in the most boring way: she doesn’t sprinkle roses, doesn't pay unmeasured amount of money so that the cherished phrase could appear in the sky, doesn’t light all those countless scented candles that are randomly scattered all over the room. The words just burst out by themselves somehow, without asking for permission, and Penelope is only worried about saying those words to Josie as confidently as it sounded in her head for several weeks.

Josie, of course, instantly looks at her with big eyes, not believing what she has heard, and for a second it seems that she'll uncertainly ask: “Me?” as if this could be addressed to someone else. Josie tries to say something, but it looks as if she has a lump in her throat that does not allow making any sounds. Penelope's heart drops, but then it flies back when Josie grabs her by the shoulders and buries the nose in the neck, mumbling inaudibly:

“I- I- I-”

“I know,” Penelope answers quietly, hugging Josie by her belt, and she feels like she exhales and relaxes in girl's hands with relief. Penelope practically hears Josie’s words in her head, trying to find the best way out, and she smiles a little, knowing that they will definitely succeed.

*

That evening Penelope finds a small sticker attached to the bathroom mirror.

I love your eyes.

She knows that only some new malivore monster could write this apart from Josie, because of whom colorful socks and favorite T-shirts regularly disappear, but Josie herself says nothing and does not even raise her head from the laptop when Penelope comes out of the bathroom, so she decides that it's better not to push.

The next day is one of those days when they can afford to lie down on the bed from about ten in the morning until eleven in the evening, order a big pizza, watch some movie they can never agree on, and just forget that there is another world but the one they built around themselves. Wrapped in a blanket — the heating in the house is lousy — and pulling her knees to the chest, Penelope absently watches the bright pictures on the screen and feels incredibly happy. Josie leaves her blanket by the end of the movie and finally moves to Penelope, who keeps telling endlessly sarcastic comments and imitating the characters, and when Saltzman also decides to say something, they look at each other for a few moments and then just burst out laughing, because words have absolutely no meaning. While wiping away tears of laughter, Penelope cannot fail to recognize that stupidity has never felt so right.

In the evening, they naturally talk about some nonsense for a few minutes, and then Park leaves, not forgetting to kiss Josie on the cheek.

At bedtime, Penelope discovers two stickers in the bathroom at once: bright yellow and light green.

I love your laugh.

I love your voice.

She carefully removes them from the mirror and folds them to put in the bedside table. Josie, completely wrapped in a blanket, sniffs too improbably to be asleep, and Penelope sees her smiling.

In the morning, Park sends Josie to the store: “You eat no less than me, but today I’m too lazy to go out,” Penelope looks at the new sticker and tries to count the number of times that Josie let her run fingers over her collar bones, shoulders, ribs and even neck and, not wincing and not flinching, melting under her touch, allowing the protective mask to disappear, evaporate and for a few minutes become so open and vulnerable, which only Penelope is allowed to see. She remembers Josie’s goosebumps, her half-closed eyes and eyelashes trembling with pleasure and lost count, simply hiding the orange sticker from casual glances.

I love your hands.  
*

Every day the number of multi-colored notes in the box of Penelope grows and they become longer and more sincere.

I love how you stick out the tip of your tongue when you smile.

I love it when you wear different socks.

I love how you wake suspiciously to look at the clock.

I love that we live together (but seriously, stop stealing my flakes).

I love all those damn weird moles scattered all over your body.

And yet Josie never ceases to be Josie, Penelope notes with pleasure, giggling at another sticker taken from the mirror at the end of the second week. She looks at the tight jeans, which she tried to wear at home before going out, and which are now lying carelessly in the corner, and looks back at the note. It seems that it is not enough for Josie just to undress her with the eyes, and then, not even being restrained herself, with her hands.

 

I love your ass, says a dark purple sticker.

*

A few days later, Penelope is standing in the kitchen, glancing at the griddle, in which something witchy with a difficult-to-pronounce name hisses. She tells Josie something about her sister that she dumped into later today. Penelope's head is always crammed with useless facts about the annoying twin, and she is not sure if Saltzman listens to her at least halfheartedly, and, frankly, expects that she is going to interrupt her at any second. She picks up a knife that looks more like a small tomahawk, and it's exactly the moment Josie cut it off in half a word, saying:

 

“I love you.”

Penelope instantly forgets the approximate number of things Lizzie has ever done to her, not paying attention to the demandingly hissing griddle. Her face sparks with too much astonishment because Josie seems to be ready to give something defensive, just to avoid a possible awkward situation. Before she can even say a word, Park puts the knife next to the stove and kisses Josie, relieved to feel a smile on others' lips. Everything was in its place before and now the last dust particles just disappeared from the relationship.

*  
Penelope knows which sticker she will find today, but does not remove it. Instead she sticks another one, bright red, to the opposite end of the mirror.

I love you.


End file.
